~ Melanie Nickels is the founder of Raw Hair Organics, Rod'z Grooming For Men, Raw Curls, and the Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples, Florida. She is an educator specializing in Non-Ammonia Hair Color and Curly Hair. Melanie is an American Board Certified Haircolorist, and an American Board of Certified Haircolorists Examiner. She does not own, nor is compensated by any hair color company. She does NOT sell hair color. All reviews are 100% unbiased.

Monthly Archives: June 2012

Is a Milkshake a healthier coloring option for you? It sounds yummy…let’s find out! Today I will evaluate and discuss the Milkshake hair color line in detail and see what conclusion we come to.

For the last 15 years or so, I’ve been a master haircolorist, and a good number of those years I have been working with organic and ammonia-free color lines. I DO NOT SELL HAIR COLOR. Whenever a new one comes out, I like to give it a try and see how they rate (according to me). Milkshake was no different. I picked some up at a show and took it to the salon to try it myself, and here are my results.

Milkshake is part of a company named Z.one concept from Italy. They started in 1999 in the Italian professional sector, one the most difficult and competitive regions in Europe. The founder and creator is a gentleman named Ivano Panzeri. They are now exporting to 26 foreign countries (according to their website). That’s very impressive. They have a conditioning permanent color, creative permanent color, delicate permanent color oil, conditioning semi permanent color, conditioning direct color, conditioning temporary color, and something called Color Juice. They also have a hair products line called Milkshake as well. According to a company statement from the March 3rd, 2008 launch that I found online, the color line is a permanent color based on nanotechnology. An oxidation dye that can permanently transform the natural pigmentation of the hair, giving rise to an unbelievable shiny look as well as to intensive, vibrant colors. Intensive, uniform and long-lasting results with rich, shiny tones are ensured by the “NanoBioGenius” technology. I’m not sure what that means, and never could get an explanation. The colors are enriched with sunflower oil and fruit extracts such as mango, tangerine, and raspberry. They also state that it has a nice honey fragrance. Milkshake has a patented complex called Integrity 41r (helianthus annuus) as an antioxidizing mix which they claim makes the dye last longer. Sounds OK, so I put it to the test. For my evaluation, I used the Creative Permanent Colour.

Pros: Super clever name…love it! Natural honey and milk proteins (well the milk protein is good for strengthening the hair, but honey is more for moisturizing and soothing); sunflower seed oil (which is the above mentioned helianthus annuus) used as an antioxidant and would be a natural sunscreen, mango, raspberry leaf, and mandarin orange extracts. Good working consistency, good gray coverage, large tube, cost effective, hair feels good and appears shiny.

Cons: 2% ammonia (a known irritant gas that is highly corrosive when mixed with water. It makes me cough and burns my eyes and overpowers the claimed nice honey fragrance); methylparaben (preservative that mimics estrogen); wheat protein (not a problem for me as it is a great strengthening protein for the hair, but may be an irritant for people that have wheat allergies); mixing ratio of 1:1.5

Mixing and preparation seemed easy enough. The writing on the box is exceptionally tiny, which makes it tough to read, of course. Application of the color was average, no surprises.

When applying this color line, I just use a standard technique. Nothing special. The application was easy and straight forward.

As far as the cost, a 5 oz tube is/was pretty much in line price-wise with everyone else. (I have yet to decide if I am going to post wholesale prices of product in my blogs yet, due to the mix of customers & professionals who might view this blog. I will make that decision by the time I post the next review).

So, my overall opinion / rating on a scale of 0 to 5 stars is hard to give, because it has 2 % ammonia, so it’s not really an ammonia free color. And, it’s not organic.It just has some natural ingredients in it. I decided to rate it here because they tout all the natural ingredients. I’ve also heard people describe it as “all natural” (including reps), but I believe that they have it confused with their hair products line of the same name, not the color line. I will review those products on my other blog, Organic Hair Products Review, in the coming weeks. After a very polite conversation with the Milk Shake technical director David Gulino, I also think they (others) may have it confused with Milk Shake Delicate Color Oil, which in the interest in fairness I will review in the coming weeks. I, for one, look forward to that!

That all being said, on my 0 to 5 stars scale of being natural and/or organic, I rate it a 0.

On my 0 to 5 scale, taking into account that it IS NOT ammonia free, I rate it 2 stars.

If you don’t run an organic salon, or a “green” salon, or aren’t concerned about your health or the health of your clients, by all means, give it a try. However, I think there are better choices out there for people like me who run an organic / non-toxic salon.

See you about the second week of July for my next review. In the mean time, sign up for my other blog, the Organic Hair Product Review site right here on wordpress.

Feel free to contact me directly with questions or comments, as well as suggestions for product lines that you would like to see me review.

Until next time, here’s to good, healthy hair, and good, healthy hairdressers.

On the Organic Hair Color Review site, I am going to take the liberty to talk about trends and techniques, etc, that are going on in the industry when I feel there is relevance. Today is one of those days. I just read a “Trend Alert”, dated last night, that BeautyStat.com is reporting Balayage as “the hot new color look”. Well…, here is where you learn about the importance of using a stylist that is a member of the ABCH, the American Board of Certified Haircolorists, or at least one who makes a point of taking continuing education classes at least a couple times a year EVERY YEAR. I know stylists who have been doing hair 20+ years, and almost never, if ever, take a class. And they really, honestly think that they are up-to-date as far as the work they are doing on their clients. And when they finally do go to a class, in their minds it’s just a reason to “party”, because they are away from their husbands or significant other for a night or two. Thus, what they actually get out of the class or classes is minimal because, most likely, they weren’t in the best of shape for learning because of what they were doing the night before until 3:30am. I know many stylists who think this is perfectly O.K. Not that I’m against having a good time, but in this economy you need to get serious about your career if you want to survive and thrive. As far as the ABCH, this organization is filled with some of the brightest colorists in the world, and has a membership of technical educators from around the country who bring a wealth of knowledge and the latest “trends” from across the world to us here in the U.S.A. That being said, the ABCH has educators who have been teaching the Balayage method for years. YEARS. That means as a consumer, you would have been walking around with this look YEARS before the name of it even reached the mainstream. You could have had Giselle Bundchen’s look 2-3 years before she had the look. Think about that.

So, that all being said, I wanted to share that yes, you can get the “new” (sic) Balayage look using organic hair color. I do this procedure on a regular basis in my own salon, Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples, Florida. I have a good mix in my clientele, with some who have the means to get their hair done anywhere in the world by anyone they choose to have do it, using any product they choose to have on their hair. I do use the balayage method on these clients, and all my clients who request it or that I feel would look good on them, and I do it with organic color. For this procedure, the organic color line that I’ve used that I’m the happiest with for this technique in particular is Organic Color Systems, or OCS. That doesn’t mean that another color might work just as well or better, it’s just the one that I find works best for this that I have personally tried (again, I do the very best I can to not show any bias, yet I want to be as open and honest as possible with professional stylists that might be reading this). As the BeautyStat article states, instead of using foils, the stylist will actually paint the highlights on. What I do for this at Raw Hair Organic Salon is this: To brighten the hair for the summer, I lighten the hair using the Ombre’ Balayage technique, or, to give added dimension, I use color and my signature “Reverse Balayage” technique. The hair comes out beautiful every time. To learn my “Reverse Balayage” technique, you’ll have to come to one of my classes (lol). I also will make sure that they purchase the highest quality shampoo & conditioner to hold the color and resist fading. I don’t want this blog to seem like I’m trying to sell my own products (which I’m not), so if you want to what I’m sending my clients home with as far as daily products, send me a message privately and I will tell you. If you are a stylist, and you learn these techniques, you will have a significant advantage over the salon down the street from you. And that matters.

Hopefully this weekend, I will post the first of many organic hair color reviews. My first one is exciting, and you may very well hear some things from me that aren’t in their product literature or on their label (go figure). Until then, here is to good, healthy hair and good, healthy hair stylists!